Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Unfinished business

		25 - 31 July 2002 Issue No. 596 Region	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Unfinished business
Morocco's decision to seize the rocky islet of Leila appears aimed at settling other territorial disputes with former colonial power, Spain, writes Michael Jensen

Click to view caption
Moroccans give the victory sign from the hills of a village facing Leila Island
In an action reminiscent of India's seizure of the Portuguese- occupied coastal enclave of Goa in 1961, ships of the Moroccan coast guard staged a surprise landing on a small islet 200 metres off the shore of Morocco, raised their flag and set up camp amongst goats grazing on sparse clumps of wild parsley.
The Moroccans call the rocky islet Leila and emphasise that it lies within their territorial waters. Furthermore, they say it was handed over to them in 1956 when the Spanish protectorate in northern Morocco ended. Two onshore enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, remain under Spanish occupation. Rabat initially said the reason for the deployment of its police on 11 July was to apprehend smugglers on the islet who were sneaking economic migrants into Spain. Later the Moroccans claimed that they had information that Spain planned to seize the islet.
Spain, which dismissed Morocco's reason for landing coastal police, claims the islet, the size of a football field, and which it calls "Parejil" or Parsley, is a Spanish overseas possession. Madrid argues that it belongs to Ceuta, six kilometres away. Ceuta and the islet were conquered by Portugal in 1415 and given to Spain in 1581. Spain placed troops on the islet in 1746 and maintained an off and on presence until 1960, when Spanish civil guard arrived on a patrol boat from Ceuta the Moroccans persuaded them to depart, allegedly at gun point.
The majority of Moroccans, preoccupied with celebrations marking the marriage of King Mohamed VI, did not even know of Leila's existence. Only herdsmen, who graze their goats on the islet, and smugglers, who store cannabis resin in a cave in the rocky outcrop at the centre, were familiar with the place.
Spain called the Moroccan move a declaration of war, took the line that the status of the islet was not up for discussion and withdrew its ambassador from Rabat. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said his country did not wish to stir tensions with Morocco. "As I said from the outset, we want to return to the pre-11 July status quo," Aznar said. About 20 per cent of Spaniards polled on the issue, wanted Madrid to storm the islet while the rest laughed off the incident and suggested that the Moroccans should keep it.
A week after the Moroccan guards installed themselves on the islet, three helicopters deposited on the island's highest point, 28 soldiers from Spain's special forces. They struck the Moroccan flag and raised the Spanish banner, compelled the coast guards to surrender and transported them to Ceuta from where they were sent home. Eventually a total of 75 troops were landed, helicopters patrolled the airspace over the islet and warships the sea round it.
While Moroccan youths mounted a noisy demonstration, proclaiming, "Our souls and our blood are sacrifices to you, Leila", the government tried to play down the emotionally charged issue. Foreign Minister Mohamed Beneissa took a conciliatory line by saying that Rabat had no intention of reoccupying Leila if the Spanish troops withdrew.
The Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council backed Morocco, while the European Union (EU) and, surprisingly, Algeria, breaking Arab ranks, supported Spain. France broke European ranks to block a statement supporting Madrid after Spain took military action. France, the former colonial power in Morocco, did not wish to damage economic and political ties with Rabat.
In a frantic bout of telephone diplomacy, US Secretary of State Colin Powell stepped in and defused the row by convincing Spain to remove its soldiers. He also convinced foreign ministers of both countries to hold a meeting in Rabat on Monday to discuss the details of the US-brokered agreement on the disputed island. Powell stated, "In accordance with the understanding, the two sides have agreed to restore the situation regarding the island that existed prior to 11 July 2002."
On Saturday night Spanish forces were airlifted off the islet by helicopters, the withdrawal taking a surprisingly long 90 minutes. Morocco hailed the Spanish climb-down as a victory and the EU was relieved the issue was lifted from the agenda of the meeting of its foreign ministers on Monday.
While this spat over the tiny speck of land in the Mediterranean was farcical from start to finish, post-colonial claims on distant territories remain a serious issue. The Spanish press, keenly aware that Madrid is in a weak position on this issue, was critical of the government's overreaction to the Moroccan move to assert its authority over the islet. The conservative Barcelona daily, La Vanguardia, summed up, "In the past few days we have reached an absurd and anachronistic situation, in which old geopolitical strategies and completely outmoded questions of territory appear to have been reborn."
Morocco seems to have chosen to occupy the islet at this time in order to remind Madrid, as it begins discussions with Britain over its colony on Gibraltar, that Spain has its own unfinished colonial business to settle. Rabat is determined to negotiate with Spain over Ceuta and Melilla which Morocco argues are integral parts of its territory. A spokesman for the ruling Socialist Union Party said that Morocco wants to secure a "schedule to discuss all questions" on which the two countries have differences.
These include immigration, territorial waters, fishing rights, the Western Sahara and, even, sovereignty over the Canary Islands as well as Ceuta and Melilla. Morocco's Le Matin newspaper said that discussions would focus on the country's determination to achieve "territorial unity".
While Morocco believes its hand has been strengthened by the negotiations between Madrid and London over Gibraltar, Spain's Foreign Minister Ana Palacio dismissed any comparison between Ceuta and Melilla and Gibraltar by saying the two North African cities were as Spanish as "Seville or Cadiz". But Morocco can point to the fact that other post-colonial dependencies have been shed by former empires, such as the British colony of Hong Kong and the Portuguese colony of Macau. Among the remaining post-colonial holdings are important military staging areas which Western powers refuse to cede. These include the British Sovereign Bases on Cyprus, the British held island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean (which has been appropriated by the US) and the US Guantanamo base on Cuba. These bases have been used in the past to mount interventions in neighbouring countries and are currently being used in by the US in its implementation of the George W Bush administration's controversial "war on terror".

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